Feds Seize KickassTorrents Domains and Arrest Owner In Poland (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Federal authorities announced on Wednesday the arrest of the alleged mastermind of KickassTorrents (KAT), the world's largest BitTorrent distribution site. As of this writing, the site is still up. Prosecutors have formally charged Artem Vaulin, 30, of Ukraine, with one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of criminal copyright infringement. Like The Pirate Bay, KAT does not host individual infringing files but rather provides links to .torrent and .magnet files so that users can download unauthorized copies of TV shows, movies, and more from various BitTorrent users. According to a Department of Justice press release sent to Ars Technica, Vaulin was arrested on Wednesday in Poland. The DOJ will shortly seek his extradition to the United States. "Vaulin is charged with running today's most visited illegal file-sharing website, responsible for unlawfully distributing well over $1 billion of copyrighted materials," Assistant Attorney General Caldwell said in the statement. "In an effort to evade law enforcement, Vaulin allegedly relied on servers located in countries around the world and moved his domains due to repeated seizures and civil lawsuits. His arrest in Poland, however, demonstrates again that cybercriminals can run, but they cannot hide from justice." KickassTorrents added a dark web address last month to make it easier for users to bypass blockades installed by ISPs.

Comments

Re:Some thoughts

[BitterOak]

We just saw an article explaining how China had just outlawed ad-blockers.

Does this mean China can accuse the maker of ad-blocking software with a major crime, and require that person to be extradited to China for trial?

Only if he's arrested in another country where ad blockers are illegal. Presumably aiding and abetting copyright infringement is illegal in Poland as well as in the United States.

Re:Update

[evilviper]

As of this writing, KAT is down, both through conventional DNS and through their onion address.

The main sites are down, but that doesn't surprise me, as they often have capacity problems and can be hard to reach for several hours, nearly every day.

Still reachable domains are;

- http://kickasstorrents.ee/
- http://kickasstorrentsan.com/
- http://kickasstorrents.cr/
- http://kickass-torrents.to/

And since I'm here, a few alternatives:

- https://eztv.ag/showlist/name/
- https://thepiratebay.org/
- https://isohunt.to/torrents/

Treason?

[Anonymous Coward]

apparently, you have no idea what how treason is defined by the US Constitution. let me help...

US Constitution, Article 3, Section 3

"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court."

Re:Torrent Sites?

[AmiMoJo]

filetype:magnet is even better, as Google usually supplies an actual working magnet URL that you can use to directly start your download. Exactly the same as Kickass Torrents.